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This guide explains how meters, accounts, and sites relate in the external data model.

Entity hierarchy

Relationships

EntityRelated viaCardinality
Connection → AccountDiscovery1:many
Account → MeterOwnership1:many
Site → MeterAssignment1:many
Meter → UsageDataRecording1:many

Meter matching algorithm

When a document is processed, Nectar associates extracted usage and charges with meter records using document evidence.

Matching criteria priority

  1. Identifier alignment — Highest-confidence association
  2. Normalized identifier handling — Minor formatting differences are tolerated
  3. Address and account context — Supplemental matching signals
  4. New meter creation — Used when no existing meter can be confidently matched

Configuration

Matching behavior is configurable by Nectar to improve consistency across utility formats and regions.

Account organization

Account states

StatusValueAnalytics inclusion
DetectedDiscovered, not confirmedExcluded
OnboardedConfirmed and activeIncluded
Old accountPreviously activeHistorical only
DuplicateLinked to active accountExcluded
InactiveManually deactivatedExcluded

Active account linking

When utility providers consolidate or restructure accounts, Nectar links related records so reporting reflects the primary active account. Subaccounts link to the active account: In analytics and exports, this helps prevent duplicate counting.

Site assignment

Assignment methods

  1. Address matching — During meter creation
  2. Account inheritance — From account’s other meters
  3. Manual assignment — User-specified

Multi-site accounts

An account can have meters at multiple sites. This commonly happens when a single utility login covers buildings at different addresses. Each meter is assigned to its own site based on address matching, while the account itself stays linked to the connection that discovered it. In analytics and exports, each meter’s data rolls up to its assigned site — not to the account’s site.

Unassigned meters

Meters without site assignments:
  • Included in company-wide analytics
  • Excluded from site-specific views
  • Listed in “Unassigned” section

Meter tracking flags

Tracked

Controls inclusion in active analytics:
StateMeaningAnalytics
TrueActively monitoredIncluded
FalseHistorical/inactiveExcluded

Duplicate

Marks duplicate meters: Duplicates are excluded from active analytics to avoid double counting.

Site archiving

Sites can be archived to stop future active reporting while preserving historical records.

Archive behavior

When a site is archived:
  • Site is considered archived
  • Meters excluded from active analytics
  • Bills after the date excluded from reporting
  • Historical data preserved

Duplicate handling

Duplicate detection

Meters are marked as duplicate when:
  • Same identifier appears multiple times
  • Same service point covered by different connections

Duplicate accounts

When accounts are duplicated:
  • Mark one as the active primary account
  • Set duplicate status on others
  • Data flows through the active account

Excluded contributors

In aggregation queries, these are excluded:
ReasonQuery filter
UntrackedExcluded from active analytics
Duplicate meterExcluded to prevent double counting
Superseded billHistorical superseded versions ignored in current rollups
Duplicate accountData reported through the active account

Implied metering

For sewer when not directly metered: Nectar can derive sewer-related usage from available utility data, depending on company configuration.

Creation logic

When enabled, derived values are created from relevant utility records and labeled accordingly.

Marking

Implied records are flagged as implied in downstream reporting, so you can distinguish them from directly metered data in analytics and exports.

Mirror sites

Mirror sites are used for data completeness estimation. When a site is configured with a mirror, it uses the mirror site’s data as a proxy for missing periods. This is useful when a new site has no historical data but a similar building nearby can serve as a reasonable estimate until actual bills arrive.

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